FR Japan: Anna Inotsume stays out of trouble in Okayama season opener

In the first round of the 2025 Formula Regional Japanese Championship, Anna Inotsume kept her car clean in a weekend affected by bad weather to finish in the top six in all three races, including a best result of fifth in race one.

Photo credits: FR Japan

2023 TCR Japan champion Anna Inotsume, driving for series newcomers Hitotsuyama Racing, had an incident-free round at Okayama to kick off the 2025 Formula Regional Japanese Championship with a top five and two sixth places.

The weekend initially didn't start off well for Inotsume as in the first three practice sessions, she set the ninth, ninth and seventh fastest times as the track remained dry on Friday.

Conditions quickly changed on Saturday as rain hit the track in time for qualifying. As many drivers struggled to deal with the amount of water on track, Inotsume set the fifth fastest time in the first qualifying session, and did so too in the second session ten minutes later. With 'special regulations' being applied to make race three's grid, Inotsume qualified fourth for the final race of the weekend.

Race 1

The first race of the season-opening Okayama round only lasted four laps, all of which run under safety car due to excessive rain hitting the track.

Tokiya Suzuki won ahead of Kazuhisa Urabe and Kento Omiya as the race awarded half points. Inotsume was classified in fifth and everyone but Yuki Tanaka, who didn't start the race, finished the race where they qualified.

Race 2

In race two, the start was delayed twice, initially due to "Akita" spinning on the back straight and not starting the race, and then due to Suzuki and Omiya lining up on the incorrect row of the grid, for which they would get post-race penalties for.

When the race eventually got underway, Suzuki had a great start and pulled away from the field as Urabe jumped up to second by overtaking Omiya before Turn 1. Meanwhile, Umegaki ran wide at the same corner and fell out of the top five, rejoining the racing line behind Inotsume in sixth place.

However, lap one's action didn't stop there, as Omiya locked up and forced Urabe wide at Turn 4 in an attempt to take back second, while Yutaka Toriba and Yuki Tanaka both crashed at the same spot, causing the safety car to come out on track.

Four laps later, the race restarted with Suzuki having a great launch and pulling away from Omiya, while Zhanbin Jia spun at the first corner and retired from the race. Behind them, Urabe and Umegaki overtook Inotsume to get up into the top five in the laps following the restart.

In the last half of the race, Suzuki, who had been leading by over three seconds, began to lose his pace and allowed Omiya and Umegaki to catch up in the closing stages.

Despite Omiya's best attempts, Suzuki held on to win on track ahead of the PONOS Racing driver and Umegaki as two seconds separated the top three. After the race, Suzuki and Omiya dropped to second and fourth respectively, giving Umegaki his first win of the season and Yu Oda his maiden podium in the series. Behind them, Inotsume kept herself out of trouble to finish sixth.

Race 3

Suzuki started on pole for the third race and once again had a great launch, pulling away from Omiya and Urabe, as Inotsume was overtaken by Umegaki for fourth on the first lap. Umegaki's charge continued as he overtook Urabe on lap six to get up to third.

Green flag action however was halted on lap 10, when Jia's car stopped at Turn 11, causing yellow flags to be waved and the safety car to be brought out on track. Four laps later, the race resumed with Suzuki once again, while Urabe defending third from Oda, but at Turn 2 the Rn-sports driver went around the outside to take the final step of the podium away from the B-Max Racing driver.

On the last lap, however, Oda crashed on exit of turn four and was classified in 10th, giving back Urabe third place with half a lap left. At the front meanwhile, Suzuki took his second win of the season ahead of Omiya and Umegaki, whilst Inotsume concluded the first round of the season with sixth.